The Terps’ star linebacker made his announcement Sunday afternoon.
Maryland linebacker Jaishawn Barham announced Sunday his intentions to enter the transfer portal, which opens on Monday, Dec. 4.
Thank you Maryland! I appreciate everybody from athletics to academics also my supporters. I’ll be entering the transfer portal tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/S4IUyWa00A
— JB (@JaishawnBarham) December 3, 2023
Barham’s decision serves a massive blow to the Terps, as he has been one of Maryland’s best overall players since arriving as the top recruit in the team’s 2022 recruiting class.
The top player in each of Maryland’s last three recruiting classes have all entered the transfer portal: Chop Robinson (2021), Barham (2022) and Rico Walker (2023).
“The portal giveth and taketh away, and again, this is the landscape of college football.” Terps head coach Mike Locksley said on Sunday. “Any time players make decisions to leave the program, they all do it for their own own selfish reasons — or their own intentional reasons — and we wish them well, as we have everybody else that’s started here in our program and made the decision to leave. We wish them nothing but the best.”
A four-star prospect coming out of St. Frances Academy, Barham immediately solidified himself as one of the top linebackers in the conference. As a freshman, he totaled 58 tackles and four sacks en route to Freshman All-American honors as well as an All-Big Ten honorable mention.
This past season, Barham saw a slight dip in production, but was still one of Maryland’s top playmakers. He finished tied for second on the team in sacks (3) and tied for first in quarterback hits (3). Barham’s 37 tackles — three of those for loss — ranked sixth-best on the squad. He also recorded his first career interception in the penultimate game of the season against Michigan.
In his two years with the Terps, Barham started 23 games.
Barham became the sixth Terp this offseason to announce their plans to enter the portal, joining tight ends Corey Dyches and Rico Walker, defensive backs Gavin Gibson and Tamarcus Cooley and offensive lineman Ja’Kavion Nonar.